Terminal

The Terminal app is the default command-line experience in Windows 11, replacing the Windows Console Host from previous versions. Command-line applications--sometimes called console applications--provide text-based interfaces that harken back to the earliest days of personal computing.

Terminal is even more powerful than its predecessor in part because it can host multiple command-line environments, each with its own set of commands--text-based applications that perform specific tasks and return text-based results--and syntax. And Windows 11 includes two of these environments, Command Prompt, which is based on the original versions of MS-DOS, and Windows PowerShell, an object-oriented task automation solution that was originally created for IT pros and system administrators.

Furthermore, you can add more command-line environments to Windows 11, and if you do so, they can be accessed in Terminal alongside Command Prompt and Windows PowerShell. For example, when you install the Windows Subsystem for Linux as described in the Linux chapter, you can also install one or more Linux distributions, each with its own command-line environment.

Terminal also supports multiple profiles, each representing an individual command-line environment, and you can access multiple profiles simultaneously, each in its own tab--similar to how Microsoft Edge and other web browsers work--or side-by-side in panes. Terminal also has the notion of a default profile that determines which of the available command-line environments appears each time you first launch the app. Windows PowerShell is configured as the default profile, but you can change that if you'd like, as described below.
Get to know Terminal
Terminal is a simple, tab-based application in which each tab contains its own command-line environment. It opens with a single tab by default, and that tab contains a Windows PowerShell environment by default.

To open a new tab with the default profile, click "Open a new tab" (the "+" button in the title bar).
Or, type CTRL + SHIFT + T.
To open a new tab with a different command-line profile, click the other "Open a new tab" button, which resembles a carat. (I know.) Then, select the appropriate profile from the list of options that appears.

You can also use the appropriate keyboard shortcut as noted in that menu. For example, CTRL + SHIFT + 2 will open a new tab using the Command Prompt profile.
To switch between tabs, select the appropriate tab.
Or, type CTRL + TAB to cycle between available tabs.
To close a tab, click its "Close tab" button ("x").
Or, type CTRL + F4 to close the current tab.
To close Terminal, type exit and tap ENTER. Or, click the Close window button. If there are multiple tabs open, you will be prompted before Terminal closes. Otherwise, it will simply close.

Terminal has a unique feature called the Command palette that lets you easily invoke actions, which are commands that this app understands. To display the Com...